


Rupees as Armor

by nocturne-of-forest (annathescavver)



Series: Nocturne does Linktober 2020 [8]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Action, Cave of Ordeals, Fairies, Friendly banter, Gen, Linktober 2020, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:35:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27288007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annathescavver/pseuds/nocturne-of-forest
Summary: Link didn’t think he would actually use the armor. Mostly he just bought it to support the new shop in castle town. But when he gets into a fight deep in the Cave of Ordeals, the armor suddenly comes in handy.
Relationships: Link & Midna (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Nocturne does Linktober 2020 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1952161
Kudos: 19





	Rupees as Armor

He didn’t think he would ever actually use the magic armor. He’d bought it weeks ago, handing over a small fortune in rupees and then passing it to his companion for safe keeping. Ignoring her snarky jab about it’s over-the-top appearance, he’d put the thing out of his mind. It was magical, the smell sticking to it and the energy humming just under the surface of the gold plate. Sure, he could probably handle it, but he much preferred the softer, much more comfortable tunic he usually wore.

That was, until Link found himself facing three heavily-armored and short-tempered darknuts.

He’d faced one before. And honestly? Their hits were nothing like those of his ghostly mentor. Not that his mentor had ever hurt him, of course. The problem was, while they were slow moving and easy enough to dodge, they had surrounded him and he only had the one blue potion left.

Rolling under one’s swing, and dodging another’s, he dashed to the far side of the large, round room. He uncorked the potion bottle with his teeth and downed it in a few hurried swallows. Then, spinning his sword, he turned back towards the darknuts.

“Wait!” Midna appeared before him. Her hands were on her hips, irritation snapping in her uncovered eye. “If you’re going to keep doing these stupid ordeals, you could at least be smart about it. Here, why don’t you make use of this thing you spent all that money on?”

She snapped her fingers and the magic armor replaced the green tunic he was wearing. Link opened his mouth to protest - he was _fine_ , thank you Midna - but the look on her face stopped him.

Instead, Link moved around. He swung his arms, twisted at the waist, bent his knees. It was surprisingly light, the red fabric breathable and soft, the metal bits strong but placed just right that they didn’t impede his movements. With a grin, this was practically feral, he stalked forward and continued fighting the darknuts.

A few well-timed strikes, and a dodge of a thrown sword, and the first was down. Then, with a back slice and a helm splitter, both perfectly executed if he said so himself, the second followed.

Something struck Link from behind. He went sprawling, body rolling to a stop against the far wall. He waited for the pain, but it never came. What he did notice, however, was the sound of falling rupees. Where they fell, he had no idea.

He picked himself back up and shook his head. He almost felt bad for doubting Malo’s claims about the armor.

When the final darknut finally went down, Link put his sword away and looked down to inspect the armor. Not a scratch marred the surface, not a tear parted the fabric. It was pristine, still; the gold flashed even in the dim torchlight of the cave.

“Well. That’s really going to come in handy,” he said with a laugh.

Midna reappeared. She crossed her arms over her chest, her cheek resting in one palm. “See, I told you. But what did you do? You handed it to me, said “Here, Midna, hold on to this” like you do with every other item you come across, and then immediately forgot about it.”

Link flashed her a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I just wasn’t so sure I believed that this could eat up rupees instead of letting me get hurt.”

“I mean, we’ve seen weirder.”

“That’s true. Anyway, let’s head to the next floor. How many has it been, anyway? We’ve gotta be hitting the bottom by now.”

The next floor ended up being another Great Fairy. She stood, wings unfolding and long hair floating in some kind of ethereal breeze. Greeting Link with a smile, she congratulated him on making it through what she called the Cave of Ordeals and promised to release fairies into the last spring in the kingdom. She placed a cool hand on his cheek and handed him a bottle of some kind of bright pink liquid. Apparently they were Fairy Tears, like that wasn’t unsettling at all.

She sent him back to the surface, and Link was relieved to smell fresh air and grass, instead of monster guts.

Standing at the edge of the Lanayru Spring, Link looked around at all the fairies fluttering around him. One came over and he held out a tentative hand. After a moment, they lowered themselves to his palm and stood there, body glowing with silver light. He stared at them incredulously, wondering at their wisp-like wings and their soothing presence.

“I guess it was worth it, you going through all of that,” Midna said. “Have these springs ever had fairies?”

“I’ve no clue. The waters can heal you, but I’ve never known them to actually have fairies.” With a respectful nod to the fairy, he raised his hands and they took off flying once more. “Honestly, I thought fairies were...just stories. Like, they’d all left the kingdom since the last era, or something.”

“I wonder why they were all trapped in that cave, then.”

“You and me both,” Link said with a shrug. He turned and walked away from the spring. “So, how long do you think we were down there?”

Midna turned to him with a roll of her eyes. “I lost track. I spent most of it asleep, to be completely clear with you.”

“You what!”

“Oh, come on. Most of those creatures were ones you were completely capable of fighting on your own. I mean, except for the poes, I guess.” Midna waved a hand and then scoffed at the look on his face. “Quit giving me those eyes. You know I’m immune to them.”

“No, you’re not. They work on you every time,” Link teased and batted his eyelashes. He ducked to evade the sudden, half-hearted swipe of her hand. With a laugh, he took off running towards the exit, footfalls echoing against the blue stone walls.

Just before the exit, the armor lost its glow and grew impossibly heavy. Link halted in place, barely stopping himself from falling flat on his face. He tried to move, much to Midna’s amusement.

“You must be out of rupees,” she commented lightly. She leaned back and folded her hands behind her head.

“This was your idea,” Link retorted. His words would have been intimidating, if they weren’t still laced with laughter. “Hey, help me out of this, will you?”

Midna snapped her fingers again and the armor disappeared, replaced once more with the green tunic. “There. C’mon, let’s find you some more rupees. You’re out of potions, and if you’re going to keep using that armor, you’ll need money.”

She spun away with a wink, tiny black crystals following her movement. Adjusting the belt on his tunic - honestly, Midna, that’s too tight! - Link took off in pursuit.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for stopping by! The prompt for this one was "Outfit" and I thought about that fancy set of armor from Twilight Princess. It really did save my backside in game, I won't lie.


End file.
